Only a very petty country puts its foreign secretary in a minicab

Pity a man born out of his time. For generations, squaring up to an unruly Frenchman was a core pillar of the job for any British foreign secretary. Today David Lammy finds himself in a terrible bother. Here's how it unfolded. Fresh from accompanying the King and Queen on a state visit to Italy last month, Lammy and his wife, Nicola Green, returned to their family holiday in Flaine, a French ski resort that is, I learn, thanks to a pleasingly snobby description in the Mail, 'popular with Brits whose budgets don't extend to more upmarket destinations across the Swiss border'.
To get them there, a Foreign Office staffer paid for a taxi costing just over £700, on the understanding that Lammy would refund the

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The Independent

3 hours ago

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